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Energy+ Country Performance Ratings 2001–2010 - Working Paper 301

This paper introduces ƐCPR, country performance ratings that support Norway’s Energy+ initiative by monitoring the progress of 153 countries in reducing the CO2 emissions intensity of energy consumption.

David Wheeler develops annual color-coded ƐCPR ratings for the period from 2001 to 2010, and his analysis reveals a diverse set of transition patterns at the country and regional levels. Some major emitters have been consistently in the red category during the past decade, some have been consistently green, and others have improved from red to yellow or green. In a similar vein, high-, middle-, and low-income countries all exhibit very diverse ƐCPR ratings.

Overall the results are hopeful, with a particularly notable decline in red ratings. During the past few years, over 70 percent of the 153 rated countries have exceeded their transition path benchmarks, and around 40 percent have exceeded their rigorous Energy+ benchmarks.

The challenge will grow in the coming decade, as countries’ transition and Energy+ benchmarks continue to fall.

Future updates of ƐCPR will provide a consistent basis for judging how far we have come, how far we have to go, and which developing countries need additional assistance to achieve green status.

Data disclosure: The data and Stata programs underlying this research are available as a data set.